Brad Truax Knew All About Courage

Dr. Brad Truax will probably be remembered most for helping to open the political closet door for the local gay community.

He was a delegate to the California Democratic Convention in 1980 and served as president of the San Diego Democratic Club. He helped organize gay support for Roger Hedgecock’s successful 1983 mayoral campaign. He became a spokesman for the gay community.

But Truax’s service to San Diego didn’t stop with politics. First and foremost, Brad Truax was a doctor. With two other physicians, his practice provided medical care for about 1,500 patients.

He took medicine very seriously and believed that physicians should get involved in the politics of health care. Dr. Chris Mathews, founder of the Owen Clinic at UC San Diego, said Truax was a role model for other doctors in this regard.

He helped found San Diego Physicians for Human Rights, was an original member of the county Human Relations Commission and, until he became too ill, was chairman of the regional Task Force on AIDS.

What Brad Truax brought to all of this community service was tireless enthusiasm, candor, courage, commitment and a cool head--even when AIDS was sapping his strength.

It is these traits for which San Diego should remember Truax. They are in short supply.

His forthright approach to his illness may help others face the disease. He took a courageous stand in favor of closing gay bathhouses, which brought him ridicule from some members of the gay community. He fought for anti-discrimination laws for people with AIDS and AIDS-related complex.

And he kept working until the end. On Election Night, just three weeks before he died, Truax hosted a party for gay Democratic activists.

“None of us escape death,” Truax said in a recent interview, “so it becomes not so much a matter of quantity of time that we spend on this earth, but quality of time.”

Dr. Brad Truax’s 42 years were quality time.